Sôgmô adopts Royal Motto

The royal coat of arms of the Sôgmô, Gaius Sörgel Publicola.

The Sôgmô has adopted a royal motto for the first time in his reign as Sôgmô, and for the first time in his historical reigns as Grand Lama of Sandefreistikhan or as Baron of Sandus and Kremlum Sandus. The new motto reflects the Sôgmô’s personality and character in his private life and also often portrayed in his public and political life as Sôgmô of the State of Sandus. The new royal motto comes from the character Trimalchio in the Satyricon by C. Petronius Arbiter. Trimalchio is a Greek freedman in the Satyricon and sevir Augustalis who becomes tremendously wealthy, while comically detailing the preparations for his funeral rites and his crypt to his friend Habinnas in the Cena Trimalchionis or ‘Banquet of Trimalchio.’ In it, Trimalchio explains how he came from being a slave to becoming a rich inheritor and praetextatus — a man who was entitled to wear the toga praetexta worn by high magistrates and senators, though Trimalchio’s status as a freedman barred him from such privilege.

The quote is a personal favourite of the Sôgmô, who translated the line from the Satyricon in his most recent, intermediate Latin course. Though Trimalchio is a comical character in Petronius’s novel, his character is immensely eclectic and reflects the lived experience of a traumatised person who has endured slavery. The quote, in particular, also reflects the Sôgmô’s stern personal philosophy on domestic affairs, which is to encourage enlightened proletarian virtues and class consciousness. In his private life, the Sôgmô is immensely frugal and humble in the classical sense — a quiet point of contention in the royal family and in the relationship between the Sôgmô and the Sanôba Consort. Both frugality and humility have clear agrarian etymologies, as frugalitas is derived from frux (fruit of the earth) and humilis is derived from humus (soil), and reflect the geneaological roots of the House of Sörgel as the descendants of apple farmers. Both virtues of frugalitas and humilitas are praised as proletarian and royal virtues in Sandus, in contrast to the virtues espoused by most modern monarchies and political elites in Capitalist societies.

The new royal motto replaces an old unofficial motto that is now seen as a more traditional royal greeting than a motto: “In the Truth and Teachings of the Three Jewels and the Benedictions of All the Gods.” That phrase is found in the Preamble of the Founding Law of the State of Sandus and has been used over several years in various documents. It has been used as a greeting in royal correspondance of the highest importance, but its use has been waning since the incorporation of Sancta in the Sandum Philosophy — out of respect for Sandus’s diverse religious and cultural backgrounds. Regardless, the phrase is still used as a greeting by the Sôgmô.